DENVER, CO - April 21: More than 50 Comcast volunteers helped paint lights, clean, organize props and costume at the theater of Cleo Parker Robinson Dance. Comcast and over 3,500 volunteers across the Denver area beautify 25 schools, nonprofits and community centers as part of the 17th annual Comcast Cares Day. April 21, 2018. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)

Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post

DENVER, CO - April 21: From left, Nic Giordano, Armand Basa, Tracey Ludmaar and more than 50 Comcast volunteers helped paint lights, clean, organize props and costume at the theater of Cleo Parker Robinson Dance. Comcast and over 3,500 volunteers across the Denver area beautify 25 schools, nonprofits and community centers as part of the 17th annual Comcast Cares Day. April 21, 2018. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)

Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post

DENVER, CO - April 21: Sara Wolfe, front left, Victoria Szadokierski, right, and more than 50 Comcast volunteers helped paint lights, clean, organize props and costume at the theater of Cleo Parker Robinson Dance. Comcast and over 3,500 volunteers across the Denver area beautify 25 schools, nonprofits and community centers as part of the 17th annual Comcast Cares Day. April 21, 2018. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)

Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post

DENVER, CO - April 21: Melissa Nancy, left, and more than 50 Comcast volunteers helped paint lights, clean, organize props and costume at the theater of Cleo Parker Robinson Dance. Comcast and over 3,500 volunteers across the Denver area beautify 25 schools, nonprofits and community centers as part of the 17th annual Comcast Cares Day. April 21, 2018. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)

Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post

DENVER, CO - April 21: More than 50 Comcast volunteers helped paint lights, clean, organize props and costume at the theater of Cleo Parker Robinson Dance. Comcast and over 3,500 volunteers across the Denver area beautify 25 schools, nonprofits and community centers as part of the 17th annual Comcast Cares Day. April 21, 2018. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)

Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post

DENVER, CO - April 21: Brian Lay, right, and more than 50 Comcast volunteers helped paint lights, clean, organize props and costume at the theater of Cleo Parker Robinson Dance. Comcast and over 3,500 volunteers across the Denver area beautify 25 schools, nonprofits and community centers as part of the 17th annual Comcast Cares Day. April 21, 2018. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)

DENVER, CO - April 21: Tracey Ludmar and more than 50 Comcast volunteers helped paint lights, clean, organize props and costume at the theater of Cleo Parker Robinson Dance. Comcast and over 3,500 volunteers across the Denver area beautify 25 schools, nonprofits and community centers as part of the 17th annual Comcast Cares Day. April 21, 2018. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)

The scene unfolding outside Denver’s Clayton Early Learning Center was the epitome of a spring day in Colorado: Dozens of bundled-up volunteers and employees dug into garden beds while crisp, white snowflakes fell around them.

The chilly gardening was part of the 17th annual Comcast Cares Day, in which more than 5,000 volunteers across the state tackled about 60 community projects in 16 cities. Nationally, the company expected more than 100,000 volunteers to turn out for more than 1,000 projects.

Projects ranged from helping a group of ninth-graders from Girls Incorporated of Metro Denver prepare for their summer internships to a park cleanup in Colorado Springs.

At Clayton Early Learning Center, it was all gloved hands on deck to beautify the grounds.

The center helps close learning gaps among kids through age 5 via a teaching approach that includes research, training, practice and advocacy.

Sheila Littlejohn, an operation specialist at the learning center, was turning over dirt beds while decked out in winter boots and a hooded jacket.

“Volunteerism is what we need to do right now,” Littlejohn said. “It’s important to come together as a community and get things done.”

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Leslie Shelton and two colleagues from the center dug their shovels into garden beds brimming with lettuce. The garden was planted, maintained and harvested by members of Designscapes Colorado and students at the center to help give families in the Park Hill neighborhood access to fresh produce.

Through chattering teeth, the women said it was their first time participating in Comcast Cares Day.

Mike Brandenburger, a construction portfolio manager with Comcast, pulled his knit cap over his ears as he entered the garden.

“It’s a really fun day out here enjoying this gorgeous spring weather,” Brandenburger joked, gesturing to the falling flakes around him. Brandenburger had laid sod and fresh wood chips and was planning to work in the neighborhood garden.

“As we celebrate our 17th annual Comcast Cares Day, we’re proud to continue to work with local community
partners to make the greatest impact possible throughout our state,” said Rich Jennings, Comcast senior vice
president of the Mountain West Region. “The collaborative support shown by our employees, their family and
friends and our community partners is a testament to how anything is possible when we rally together to make change happen. I am grateful to everyone who comes out in support of our communities today and throughout the year.”

Elizabeth Hernandez is a Denver Post reporter covering breaking news and a little bit of everything else, too. A former education reporter at both The Post and Boulder Daily Camera, Elizabeth is passionate about using her platform to tell the stories of underrepresented Coloradans in an accurate, compassionate, engaging manner. She started at The Denver Post as an intern in 2014 and just kept coming to work until they hired her.

Today, one out of every three men imprisoned in Colorado -- and four out of every five women inmates -- say they have some type of moderate to critical mental health need, according to the Colorado Department of Corrections. The number of inmates with mental health needs in Colorado's prisons has steadily risen in the past two decades.

Maybe you've got plans to camp this weekend (just watch out for the mud and, er, snow up there), go for a hike or maybe you just want to lounge by the pool and kick it. Unfortunately, Mother Nature doesn't always necessarily cooperate.